A Radio Access Network (RAN) for a Long Term Evolution (LIE) communication system is illustrated in FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration of the conventional LTE network.
Referring to FIG. 1, the LTE network may include a User Equipment (UE) 100, an Evolved Node B (ENB) (also known as EUTRAN) 102, a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 104, a Serving-Gateway (S-GW) 106, a PDN (Packet Data Network)-Gateway (P-GW) 108, and a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) 110.
The UE 100 may access an external network 112 via the ENB 102, the S-GW 106 and the P-GW 108. The UE 100 may exchange application-related information with an Application Function (AF) (not shown).
The ENB 102, a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, may correspond to a Radio Network Controller (RNC) of the Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) system, and a Base Station Controller (BSC) of the GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) EDGE (Enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution) Radio Access Network (GERAN) system. The ENB 102 may be connected to the UE 100 over a wireless channel, and may perform an operation similar to the operation performed by the existing RNC/BSC. In the LIE network, all user traffic including the traffic based on real-time services such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) may be serviced over a shared channel. Therefore, the ENB 102 may perform scheduling by collecting state information of UEs.
The MME 104, a device responsible for various control functions, may be connected to a plurality of ENBs. The MME 104 may manage Evolved Packet Core (EPC) bearers generated among the UE 100, the ENB 102, the S-GW 106 and the P-GW 108. The MME 104 may authenticate the UE 100 and manage a mobility state of the UE 100.
The S-GW 106, a device for providing EPC bearers, may generate or remove EPC bearers under control of the MME 104. The P-GW 108 may assign an IP address to the UE 100, and apply a UE-specific Quality of Service (QoS) policy (e.g., priority, bandwidth control and the like). In the LTE network, the QoS policy may be applied in units of EPC bearers, and one EPC bearer may be used to transmit IP signals having the same QoS requirements. A QoS-related parameter may be designated for the EPC bearer, and this parameter may include a QoS Class Identifier (QCI), Allocation and Retention Priority (ARP), and the like. The EPC bearer may correspond to a Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context of the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system.
The PCRF 110 is a device for determining and collectively controlling UE-specific QoS policy and charging. The PCRF 110 may provide a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rule for a UE to the P-GW 108.
In this LIE network, a path among the UE 100, the ENB 102, the S-GW 106 and the P-GW 108, which is a path in which user data is transmitted and received, is commonly referred to as ‘UP’. In the UP, in a path between the UE 100 and the ENB 102 may be used a wireless channel having the most severe resource limitations. Therefore, the ENB 102 needs to perform data exchange with the UE 100 using the limited frequency.
If the number of users increases or the traffic transmitted/received by the users increases in a cell managed by the ENB 102, congestion may occur in the ENB 102. In this congestion situation, in order to cope with the congestion without degrading the user experience QoS, there is a need to control traffic taking into account the user attributes or the service application. Conventionally, however, there is no way to make it possible to effectively perform traffic control according to the congestion.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.